Twiggy has revealed that she did not plan to get into modelling as a career, which means the world could have missed out on one of the most iconic fashion models of the Sixties. The English model, actor and singer, whose real name is Dame Lesley Lawson, said that most of her life has been spent “doing things that I didn’t plan to do”. In a new interview with Good Housekeeping, Twiggy, 73, said: “I didn’t plan to model. I definitely didn’t plan to do a musical film with Ken Russell and I certainly didn’t plan to star on Broadway in a big musical. I must be mad!” Russell wrote and directed the 1971 musical comedy The Boy Friend, which also starred EastEnders star Barbara Windsor and ballet dancer Christopher Gable. Twiggy was also involved in Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical, written and directed by comedian Ben Elton. The show is set to open in September at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. She said: “I only get involved with projects that really spark something in me, with people I love and want to work with. “Ben Elton is an old friend and I love him to bits. He’s a huge talent - so clever and such a sweet man. “The musical came about when we were having dinner about six years ago and he said, half-jokingly, ‘I should do your story! It’s an amazing story set in an amazing period – I should write it’.” Close-Up traces Twiggy’s rise to stardom alongside music from the Sixties and Seventies. Elsewhere in the interview, Twiggy opened up about her marriage to English actor Leigh Lawson and reflected on their nearly 40 years together. She said: “[Leigh and I] have been together for 38 years, which is frightening! I suppose luck has a lot to do with it. “You never know when you meet somebody how it’s all going to turn out or what life is going to throw at you. “We’ve both been through things that didn’t work out for various reasons and when you’ve had that experience, you’re a little gentler when you meet someone else.” Lawson is also a director and writer. He has been credited for TV shows such as Silent Witness, Travelling Man, Absolutely Fabulous, and The Red Tent. Earlier this year, Twiggy revealed that cosmetic surgery “frightens” her, and she has never undergone procedures such as Botox, which is common among celebrities. Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said she is “proud” of her wrinkles, but said she was open to the idea of having “little tweaks” someday. “But what I don’t think I’d ever do is all the stuff they inject, when they get those funny cheeks that look like cotton wool balls have been stuffed in them. It would frighten me,” she added. The full interview is in the September 2023 issue of Good Housekeeping, which is on sale now. Additional reporting by PA Read More ‘My dentist injects me, but I trust him’: Inside the scary world of unregulated Botox London chef apologises after criticism for all-white, all-male kitchen team Bakery delivers brilliant response to ‘well-known celebrity’ offering ‘exposure’ in return for free cakes JW Anderson is teaming up with a major tennis star for new collection Leigh-Anne Pinnock unveils the three wedding dresses she wore to marry Andre Gray Eva Mendes shows dress made out of sponges as she jokes it’ll be her Oscars outfit

As often was the case amid an American society embedded in racism in the 1980s, Muhammed Ali put it best. Advising black racing driver Willy T. Ribbs, the people’s champion made his point in no uncertain terms: “There are Blacks in my sport. But there are no Blacks in your sport. “They’re going to want to kill you.” Yet for all the death threats, discrimination and abuse, Ribbs had long decided that the only option was to meet the uphill battle head-on. He made history in 1986 when he became the first Black driver to test an F1 car. Five years later, he was the first to race in the Indy 500, one of the world’s most famous events. But on the course to that journey, Ribbs faced it all. Don’t let me tell you though; let the man himself. “Of course, there were death threats, the n-word,” he reflects, in a slow but dead-pan fashion that tells you the wounds have long since healed. Instead, the metaphorical bruises are worn with pride. “But I enjoyed it. It didn’t make me mad, it was fun. I was going to dish out what they were dishing out to me, it never scared or intimidated me. I actually enjoyed it because it was motivating. I was never going to play the victim, that was not Willy T. Ribbs.” Now 68, Ribbs is an ambassador for Formula 1, raising awareness for diversity and equality. A role given a matter of months after his riveting biopic movie, Uppity, was released in 2020. So titled because that was his nickname in motorsport circles – “and he loved it.” But to this interview, he’s late. And he apologises, quipping: “Race drivers are never late, you know! Or they’re not supposed to be…” Son to William ‘Bunny’ Ribbs, an amateur racer himself, Willy’s career path was set in stone from day-dot it seems. It was the racing way or the highway. “I was born in this sport,” he tells The Independent, from his home in Texas. “I watched it from three years old when my Dad was racing, watching the likes of Jim Clark and Graham Hill. That’s all that was discussed in the family. We didn’t discuss any other sport. “I was lucky, I think. At nine years old, I knew what I wanted to do and I knew what my career path was going to be. Most kids that age don’t know what the hell they’re going to do, but I did. And I didn’t want to be an amateur at it – I wanted it to be a profession and I wanted it to be Formula 1.” He learned his craft, in the UK, racing alongside future F1 world champion Nigel Mansell in Formula Ford in the mid-1970s. He raced in NASCAR and the Trans-Am Series, later on, too. But his F1 calling, in ’86, came in the Portuguese town of Estoril. Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team – “Bernie has always been good to Willy T. Ribbs” – gave the American the chance to buck the trend and become a true trailblazer. But the tag was not something he felt comfortable with at the time. “All that mattered was I thought of myself as a race driver,” he says. “I had two responsibilities: to myself and to my team. For those who record social history, that’s their job [to say trailblazer] – but I’m not going to carry that weight on my shoulders. “Sure. I was a role model because I was doing something no other Black kid had done. And great, if that’s the category they want to put me in and how they want to document it. But for me? It was about going fast.” It was a mindset of not bowing to the status quo, embodied most especially in the late 20th century by Ali. “What I admired about him the most was not his boxing skills,” Ribbs says of Ali. “What I admired about him was his resolve as a man, not to be squashed, manipulated or controlled. Ali said ‘you have to let them know that you can’t be killed, there’s nothing they can do to you and then they’ll leave you alone for a while.’” Now in motor racing, the baton has been passed on to seven-time Formula 1 world champion and the sport’s only Black driver Lewis Hamilton, whom Ribbs is full of praise about. “Lewis Hamilton, after seven world titles and more victories than any other human being, gets unfairly targeted,” insists Ribbs. “If you can equate it to Tiger Woods, what did Tiger Woods do for golf? He broadened the audience. The attention went off the chart. That’s exactly what happened in F1 – Lewis Hamilton has been Formula 1’s Tiger Woods. “He’s a very kind man. He’ll let it roll off, turn the other cheek – I wasn’t that way. He deals with it and in a lot of cases it’s unfair. Then again, he is in an environment which was not nearly as brutal as I was dealing with. Willy T. Ribbs was treated differently.” The third-person references point to a man who is now comfortable in his own skin; in the significance of the struggle – and what it means to many around the world. And despite a sport notoriously still dominated by white men, progress is being made. “One thing I love about Formula 1 is not only is it evolving commercially around the world, it’s evolving socially,” he says. “When F1 hired me, I asked them ‘what made you make this call?’ “They said: ‘We watched your film and we thought you’d be the perfect person for inclusion and equality in Formula 1.’ “I said: ‘Well, you called the right guy’.’” Read More Mercedes chief admits ‘embarrassment’ after Lewis Hamilton disqualification Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc post amusing joint Instagram after DSQ Red Bull chief condemns Mexican fans who booed Max Verstappen Logan Sargeant earns first F1 point in bizarre circumstances Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes react to shock disqualification from United States GP Chaos as Lewis Hamilton disqualified four hours after finishing second in US GP

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